Letter from the Provost
Dear Colleagues:
It is my pleasure to introduce the Harvard University Technology Development Accelerator Fund, an innovative program designed to fund early stage applied and translational research with manifest commercial potential. We have every hope and expectation that Accelerator funding will help to advance funded projects to the "take off" point, where it will become possible to place them with a strong industrial partner who will continue to fund and develop the technology for commercial application and public access. Providing critical support to advance potentially important but nascent technologies has assumed greater importance than ever, given the dearth of early stage funding for such projects. Funds are allocated on an annual basis, and are available to researchers who fulfill the following core criteria: (i) have rights as a principal investigator; (ii) are employed by Harvard University; and (iii) are conducting research in the life sciences.
The Accelerator was designed to be an "evergreen" fund, meaning that a portion of future revenue and licensing proceeds generated by technologies supported by the Accelerator will be cycled back to the Fund to help sustain it, and in turn, to help sustain future innovations at Harvard in perpetuity.
The Accelerator is managed by the Office of Technology Development (OTD), in consultation with an external advisory committee appointed by the Provost. Recipients are chosen based on the scientific merit and the potential for technology transfer reflected in their proposals. For details on the overall application process, please contact us.
As one of the world's leading research universities, Harvard has a special obligation to foster the development and translation of promising new technologies in order to serve the public interest and benefit society. I encourage our research community to take full advantage of this unique funding opportunity, and I look forward to the continued success of this exciting program.
Sincerely,
Steven E. Hyman